Government

Via David Firestone at the New York Times: Republicans aren’t just in favor of lowering taxes; now they’re applauding wildly complex efforts by the wealthiest Americans to avoid paying billions in taxes by shipping capital to other countries. “It’s really American to avoid paying taxes, legally,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, on Tuesday. He […]

Before the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act last week, the primary Republican line of attack against were over-the-top hyperbolic, but at least subjective: government takeover of health care, unconstitutional overreach, etc. But from the moment the SCOTUS determined the law stands as an exercise of Congress’ taxing power, though, Republicans have gone empirical. […]

I know it is hard to believe, but it is true. Congress passed a bill: On a broad bipartisan vote of 78 to 20, the Senate voted Tuesday to extend the life of the U.S. Export-Import Bank and expand its authority to make loans to U.S. exporters. In the “Schoolhouse Rock” version of how Capitol Hill […]

Via a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a list of “things that government officials could do to an American citizen and still claim later that they didn’t know they were “torturing” that citizen.” Prolonged isolation; Deprivation of light; Exposure to prolonged periods of light and/or darkness; Extreme variations in temperature; Sleep adjustment; Threats […]

Grant Cardone used his iPad to record a mid-flight bird-strike on a Delta flight from LFK to LAX. A crew member ordered him to stop recording. He refused. Well it would seem the FAA is is not so happy about this. In a letter Cardone received: Your failure to comply with flight attendant instructions during a critical phase of flight […]

Writing at Balloon Juice: When did the 1st Amendment change from basically saying that you can practice whatever religion you want and you won’t be burned at the stake as a heretic and we’re not going to form or recognize a national religion like the Church of England? When did it change to “everyone everywhere has […]